to
the Emperor on matters of State, and to indicate, according to
His pleasure, the general course of the policy of the State,
every branch of the administration being under control of the
said Minister. The compass of his duties is large, and his
responsibilities cannot but be proportionately great. As to the
other Ministers of State, they are severally held responsible for
the matters within their respective competency; there is no joint
responsibility among them in regard to such matters. For, the
Minister President and the other Ministers of State, being alike
personally appointed by the Emperor, the proceedings of each one
of them are, in every respect, controlled by the will of the
Emperor, and the Minister President himself has no power of
control over the posts occupied by other Ministers, while the
latter ought not to be dependent upon the former. In some
countries, the Cabinet is regarded as constituting a corporate
body, and the Ministers are not held to take part in the conduct
of the Government each one in an individual capacity, but joint
responsibility is the rule. The evil of such a system is that the
power of party combination will ultimately overrule the supreme
power of the Sovereign. Such a state of things can never be
approved of according to our Constitution."

In spite of the small powers of the Diet, it succeeded, in the first
four years of its existence (1890-94), in causing some annoyance to the
Government. Until 1894, the policy of Japan was largely controlled by
Marquis Ito, who was opposed to militarism and Chauvinism. The statesmen
of the first half of the Meiji era were concerned mainly with
introducing modern education and modern social organization; they wished
to preserve Japanese independence _vis-a-vis_ the Western Powers, but
did not aim, for the time being, at imperialist expansion on their own
account. Ito represented this older school of Restoration statesmen.
Their ideas of statecraft were in the main derived from the Germany of
the 'eighties, which was kept by Bismarck from undue adventurousness.
But when the Diet proved difficult to manage, they reverted to an
earlier phase of Bismarck's career for an example to imitate. The
Prussian Landtag (incredible as it may seem) was vigorously obstreperous
at the time when Bismarck first rose to power, but he tamed it by
glutting th